Five years after a wave of asylum seekers flooded into Europe, the region is facing another reckoning on migration, with familiar bickering and lack of consensus on the way forward.The numbers of arrivals are far smaller today than they were in 2015. The iconic images now driving migration back into the headlines are no longer of drowned toddlers, but rather of the thousands of migrants left homeless by fires at a squalid Greek island camp.Whether the European Union can finally come together on migration will be tested when its executive arm next Wednesday unveils a long-awaited migration and asylum pact that will need member state approval to become reality.”It’s going to be a very tough negotiation,” predicted former EU official Stefan Lehne, now an analyst at the Brussels-based Carnegie Europe policy institute.“Everybody agrees the current situation is a mess,” Lehne said of the patchwork of migration initiatives, but, he added, there remains little agreement on how to fix it.Migrants flee from the Moria refugee camp during a second fire, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 9, 2020.Cannot afford to fail?The European Commission pact is expected to emphasize initiatives toward countries of origin and transit to keep asylum seekers from leaving, beef up border patrols and push for more burden sharing of migrants already within EU borders.The fire that devastated Europe’s largest migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last week has lent urgency in coming up with solutions.Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki, who has called for more EU support in building a new structure — and in handling the migrant influx in general — called the blaze and its aftermath a “warning bell” for the 27-member bloc.“Europe cannot afford a second failure on the migration issue,” he said.European Council President Charles Michel, left, makes statements after his meeting with Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Maximos Mansion in Athens, Sept. 15, 2020.So far, however, less than half of EU member states, along with Switzerland, have offered to take in a few hundred accompanied minors from the now-devastated Moria camp. Several hundred more have been voluntarily moved to tent camps on the island, leaving most of Moria’s more than 12,000 initial inhabitants still sleeping outside.These and other recent migrant numbers dwarf those of 2015, when roughly one million asylum seekers reached European shores. While Germany opened its doors, welcoming the majority of them, others, particularly eastern European countries, slammed them shut.By contrast, about 48,000 migrants have reached Europe so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, most via the Mediterranean — with another 268 dead or missing en route.Dozens of African migrants wait to be assisted by a team of aid workers of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, after spending more than 20 hours at sea, in the Central Mediterranean sea, Sept. 8, 2020.“We no longer have the arrival numbers we had in 2015-2016—which means in principle we should be able to talk about migration management and the challenges in a more rational, pragmatic way,” said Marie De Somer, head of migration and diversity at the European Policy Center, a Brussels research institution.But she added, “The divisions remain strong.”Toughening stancesFive years after the migrant crisis, states like Greece, on the frontlines of the influx, are still demanding greater burden-sharing from other bloc members, with some reluctant to do more.“If we give in to the pressure, we risk making the same mistakes we made in 2015. We risk giving people false hopes,” said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has declined to take in minors from the Moria camp.Still, Carnegie’s Lehne believes member states are more in harmony today on one aspect.“In 2015, you really had big divisions between one group of countries that was very much for opening the borders and allowing refugees to come—and another group very much opposed,” he said.Lehne believes that has changed.“Everybody in Europe now agrees it has to be a managed process. It cannot simply be opening borders and letting everybody in,” he said.Turkish special forces team patrol on a speed boat along the Maritsa river at the Turkish-Greek border near Karpuzlu village, in Edirne region, Turkey, March 11, 2020.In recent years, the EU has beefed up its border patrols and paid transit countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to keep migrants on their shores. In Niger, France opened a migrant processing center to screen asylum-seeking claims thousands of kilometers from European shores.Far-right parties have also surged in recent years, partly riding on their anti-immigration platforms, helping to shape Europe’s tougher migration stance.For their part, rights groups have accused front line countries of foot-dragging or failing to allow vessels carrying migrants to land—and Greece of escorting migrant boats back to Turkish waters.The coronavirus pandemic, activists say, has also offered new pretexts to turn back ships carrying migrants over health concerns.Michael Newman, a migration policy advisor for humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres, said he was “appalled” at the EU’s bureaucratic discussions on migration “when disasters are unfolding in front of our eyes.”“I think we come short of words to describe both the situation lived by migrants, and authorities’ response,” he added.By contrast, EU lawmaker Nicolas Bay, of France’s far-right National Rally party, said that Brussels bureaucrats risked rolling out an overly soft migration policy, offering incentives for more migration.“By piling laxity on top of laxity, they’re adding to the (migration) drama,” he told French radio.Some of these arguments are playing out among EU member states. Analyst De Somer, of the European Policy Center, noted a broader skepticism of reaching member state agreement on a migrant deal.De Somer, however, suggested the Lesbos fire might help act as a catalyst.“One thing it did do,” De Somer said, “is to showcase to the wider public the urgency and importance of coming up with a European solution.” 
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Ethiopia has introduced new bank notes to shore up the country’s struggling economy and slow the hoarding of currency and illegal trade activities. Prime minister Abiy Ahmed said the improved design and security features on new Birr notes for denominations of 10, 50 and 100 will make counterfeiting difficult.   A new 200 denomination currency note has also been introduced. Ethiopia is spending more than $97 million to print the new currency. The Ethiopian government intends to turn the 5 Birr note into a coin format.  Ahmed said in a statement that money outside the banking system has been rising, affecting how commercial banks can turn assets into cash.  He added that the outside money also bolsters corruption and illegal trade activities. Quartz Africa reported Ethiopia last introduced a new money denomination at the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean civil war two decades ago. 
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A Rwandan court is charging the man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” with terrorism, complicity in murder and forming an armed rebel group. Prosecutors accuse Paul Rusesabagina of orchestrating crimes against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians in 2018.  Rusesabagina refused to plead to all 13 charges on Monday, including being linked to murders, claiming some of the charges are baseless. Rusesabagina, who has been detained since late last month, is asking to be released because of poor health. The court will hear his request for bail on Thursday. The film “Hotel Rwanda” portrayed Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager, as a hero, who protected Tutsis fleeing the 1994 genocide.  Rusesabagina is credited with saving more than 1,000 lives. 
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The U.S. State Department on Monday eased a travel advisory for Americans considering travel to China or Hong Kong from “Do Not Travel” to “Reconsider Travel,” citing “improved conditions.”The new “Level 3” warning reflects the “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws, said the department, which had issued its highest “Do Not Travel” Level 4 warning in June.China and the United States said in August they would each allow air carriers to double flights between the world’s two largest economies to eight per week.On Aug. 6, the U.S. State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lifted its global advisory recommending U.S. citizens avoid all international travel because of the coronavirus pandemic, and instead issued a raft of high-level warnings for individual countries.The CDC also dropped its global advisory warning against all nonessential international travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Over the past month, the State Department has revised dozens of additional country-specific travel advisories, including easing ratings on Mongolia, El Salvador, Pakistan, Mexico, Kuwait, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia to Level 3.The United States has barred most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in most of Europe, Brazil and China from traveling to the United States.On Monday, the U.S. government ended a requirement that travelers from China, Europe and Brazil return to the United States at 15 designated U.S. airports. It also ended enhanced CDC screenings of those passengers upon their return. 
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Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga forces will increase their cooperation in the fight against Islamic State, an Iraqi military official said.Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the Iraqi military, said Sunday that joint efforts are under way to ensure the security of Iraq’s border with Syria, as IS militants continue to exploit the instability in both countries to launch attacks on Iraqi territory.“The Peshmerga forces are part of the Iraqi national defense system, and now there is joint coordination between the federal forces and the Peshmerga to protect those areas that lie between their lines of presence,” Rasool said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency.“It is very important during the next phase to coordinate with the Peshmerga forces in order to carry out joint operations within these areas, as well as sharing intelligence,” he added.The Iraqi official noted that there is a new understanding between the two sides to establish coordination centers for their anti-IS campaign.FILE – Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks to residents of Tarmiyah, Iraq, where a commander of an Iraqi army brigade was killed in an attack blamed on the Islamic State, July 20, 2020.Rasool’s statement comes days after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan, where he and Kurdish leaders discussed among other issues the continued fight against IS, also known as ISIS.Iraqi and Kurdish officials emphasized “continuing security cooperation and coordination between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi military in countering ISIS terrorists to bring stability and help the return of displaced people,” the Kurdistan Region’s presidency said in a statement Friday.IS remains active  Despite its territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, IS continues to carry out attacks in both countries, particularly in border areas.In August, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) said more than 10,000 IS fighters are estimated to remain active in Iraq and Syria, noting that their attacks have significantly increased this year.IraqVladimir Voronkov, head of the UNOCT, told the U.N. Security Council that IS militants move freely “in small cells between the two countries,” adding that the terror group has regrouped, and its activity has increased.Major objectiveExperts say securing Iraq’s border with Syria has become a major objective for the current Iraqi government in its counterterrorism efforts.“There are internal procedures about how to merge the role of the Peshmerga forces with the international coalition to go after ISIS remnants, prevent the smuggling of people and resources and stop the infiltration of terrorists from the Syrian border into the Iraqi territory,” said Hussein Ali Allawi, professor of national security at Nahrain University in Baghdad.Allawi told VOA that Iraqi authorities are also seeking to coordinate with anti-IS forces that are in control of the Syrian side of the border, while the U.S.-led global coalition against IS could provide logistical support.U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces control a significant part of Syria’s border with Iraq. Syrian regime forces and Iranian-backed militias also control parts of the border between the two countries.FILE – Gen. Frank McKenzie, center front, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, visits a military outpost in Syria, Jan. 25, 2020.US troop drawdownOn Wednesday, Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, announced during a visit to Iraq that U.S. troops in the country would be cut from 5,200 to 3,000.McKenzie said in a statement that the remaining U.S. forces would continue advising and assisting Iraqi forces in “rooting out the final remnants” of IS and “ensuring its enduring defeat.”“This decision is due to our confidence in the Iraqi security forces’ increased ability to operate independently,” the U.S. official said.
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Проєкт Державного бюджету України на 2021 рік зареєстрували у Верховній Раді. Про це свідчать дані на сайті парламенту.

Зазначається, що документ направили на розгляд комітету.

Раніше 14 вересня Міністерство фінансів відзвітувало про передачу проєкту державного бюджету на 2021 рік для розгляду в Кабінеті міністрів та назвало основні пріоритети документу.

Кабінет міністрів ухвалив законопроєкт про державний бюджет на 2021 рік вранці 14 вересня.

Читайте також: Чотири прогнози курсу гривні на осінь

Згідно з проєктом, доходи бюджету в 2021 мають скласти 1 071,1 мільярда гривень, видатки – 1 350,1 мільярда гривень. Основним джерелом надходжень міністр вважає підвищення ефективності сплати податку на додану вартість.

Дефіцит передбачено на рівні 270,4 мільярда, тобто 6% ВВП. Марченко звернув увагу, що це на 1,5% нижче за показник минулого року.

За даними Міністерства фінансів, уряд планує до 2023 скоротити показник дефіциту до 3% ВВП.

Ріст ВВП планується 4,6%, рівень інфляції – 7,3%, середня заробітна плата – 13,6 тисячі гривень.
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At opposite ends of the country, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden presented vastly different views Monday about the cause of the historic, destructive wildfires in the Western United States, which have killed at least 35 people.In California, the president — brushing aside concerns about climate change as a catalyst for the increasing number and intensity of such fires — reiterated his call for Western states to practice better forest management.“When trees fall down after a short period of time, they become very dry — really like a matchstick,” said Trump on arrival in California. “And they can explode. Also leaves. When you have dried leaves on the ground, it’s just fuel for the fires.” Trump’s “climate denial” did not cause the fires, Biden said in his home state of Delaware. But if the president gets a second term, “These hellish events will continue to become more common, more devastating and more deadly.”Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about climate change and wildfires affecting Western states, Sept. 14, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.Speaking outdoors with a field of wheat as the backdrop fewer than 50 days before the national election, Biden added, “If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze?”The former vice president said Trump’s approach is to ignore the facts and “deny reality,” calling that a full surrender to the effects of climate change.Amid the real peril, this is also a time of extraordinary possibilities, said Biden, who said as president he would take “urgent action” to combat global warming.  Trump has stayed mostly silent about the widespread devastation in the three solidly Democratic states — California, Oregon and Washington — where more than a million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land has burned.  Among those briefing Trump in California on Monday was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a vocal critic of the president.  U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a briefing on wildfires in McClellan Park, California, U.S., September 14, 2020.Newsom noted that 56% of the land in California is federally owned, so the federal government has a major responsibility in improved forest management along with the state.  “It’s a big problem, and it will get solved,” said the president.  Newsom told Trump, “We feel very strongly the hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting dryer. Something has happened to the plumbing of the world, and we come from a perspective, humbly, that we assert the science that climate change is real. Please respect the difference of opinion out here with respect to the fundamental issue of climate change.”  California Gov. Gavin Newsom listens during a briefing with President Donald Trump at Sacramento McClellan Airport, in McClellan Park, Calif., Sept. 14, 2020, on the western wildfires.Trump replied, “Absolutely.”  The president, however, also predicted that the climate “will start getting cooler.””Just watch. I don’t think science knows, actually.”  Trump has often questioned the science of climate change, instead blaming poor forest management for the spread of the fires and their intensity. His visit to California, where polls show the majority of voters sharply oppose his reelection, gave the president an opportunity to offer sympathy for the victims of the fires and emphasize the federal firefighting assistance he has approved.  “We say God bless you to those who were killed in this serious fire. We are showing and give support to the people of California,” Trump said.  The president has dispatched more than 26,000 federal personnel and 230 helicopters to fight the fires, according to the White House.U.S. President Donald Trump awards the Distinguished Flying Cross to California National Guard Sergeant Cameron Powell during a ceremony to honor Powell and six other helicopter crewmembers at McClellan Park, California, U.S., September 14, 2020.Trump also presided Monday over a ceremony to award seven members of a California National Guard helicopter crew the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing hundreds of stranded campers who had become surrounded by fire. Smoke and flames have combined to envelop the cities of San Francisco, Seattle and Portland with some of the worst air quality in the world.   The massive clouds of smoke blanketing the region have endangered the health of millions of residents. Air quality across the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon was characterized by state environmental officials as “hazardous” or “very unhealthy.”  Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.  Visibility has been less than a half kilometer in some places, according to the National Weather Service, making it dangerous to drive.  Ken Bredemeier in Washington contributed to this report.  
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In Israel, a Jewish extremist who was convicted of three counts of murder for throwing a firebomb that killed three members of a Palestinian family has been sentenced to three life terms in prison.It is rare that convicted Jewish extremists receive such a long sentence, but the judges — in their ruling — said that 26-year-old Amiram Ben Uliel acted out of racist ideology.Ben Uliel has never expressed remorse. Dressed in a white shirt and wearing a large white skullcap, he was sentenced to three life sentences in prison.The firebomb attack five years ago in the West Bank village of Duma was one of the most brutal Jewish terror attacks in recent years and contributed to a wave of Israeli-Palestinian tension. Israeli politicians, however, condemned the attack, which claimed the lives of Saad and Riham Dawabshe and their 18-month-old son, Ali. Only one person survived — a five-year-old named Ahmed.Ahmed’s grandfather Hussein, who is rearing the boy, said the verdict will not bring back the dead.He said the court’s decision will not return anything to Ahmed. The grandfather said he just does not want another child to go through the trauma that the boy experienced.Ben Uliel had an accomplice who was a minor at the time. He will be sentenced in the coming days.Ayman Odeh, an Israeli Arab member of the Knesset, or parliament, described the sentence as “partial justice for the murdered and for young [Ahmed], who survived that horrible night.”Ben Uliel’s lawyer, Asher Ohayon, has alleged that his client was tortured while interrogated and that the verdict will be appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court.The lawyer called the verdict a legal mistake and says he hopes it will be changed.  Ben Uliel’s supporters demonstrated outside the courtroom while the verdict was read.Ben Uliel had previously confessed to the murder and demonstrated to the court how he carried it out.
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Національний банк України встановив на 15 вересня курс 28 гривень рівно за долар США. Це на 10 копійок більше за офіційний курс на 14 вересня.

Торги на міжбанківському ринку завершилися дещо оптимістичніше для української валюти – 27 гривень 98,5 копійки – 28 гривень 0,5 копійки за долар, хоча в розпал сесії котирування сягали 28 гривень 1,5–3,5 копійки за одиницю американської валюти, свідчать дані Finance.ua.

Ще чотири тижні тому, 17 серпня, долар оцінювався на міжбанку значно дешевше, тоді торги завершилися на рівні 27 гривень 23,5–25,5 копійки за одиницю американської валюти.
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An international team of astronomers Monday announced the discovery of a rare gas molecule — phosphine — in the clouds of Venus, which may be the first solid evidence of extraterrestrial life in the solar system.  The researchers say on Earth, phosphine is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. The international team, which includes researchers from Britain, the U.S. and Japan, published their findings in two papers — the science journal Nature on Monday, and Astrobiology journal on Saturday.Phosphine was first spotted in observations that were made by Cardiff University astronomer Jane Greaves using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii. The discovery was then confirmed using a more sensitive radio telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.  FILE – Radio telescope antennas of the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) project, in the Atacama desert, Chile, March 12,2013.The team estimates that phosphine exists in Venus’ clouds at a small concentration, only about 20 molecules in every billion. Still, after running several calculations, they determined there were no non-biological sources on the planet that could account for the levels of phosphine they discovered in the atmosphere. Astronomers have speculated for decades that high clouds on Venus could offer a home for microbes — floating free of the scorching surface but needing to tolerate very high acidity. They say detection of phosphine could point to such extra-terrestrial “aerial” life. Another member of the team, Massachusetts Institute of Technology molecular astrophysicist Clara Sousa Silva, has investigated phosphine as a “biosignature” gas of non-oxygen-using life on planets around other stars. She said finding it on Venus is exciting and extraordinary.  But she said it raises many questions regarding how any organisms, if they exist, could survive in the planet’s atmosphere, where clouds are made up of about 90% sulphuric acid. So, team members acknowledge that confirming the presence of “life” needs a lot more work. 
 
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